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Dursley family
* Dudley Dursley |Status = Extant |Location = 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey |Loyalty = }} The Dursley family were a Muggle family from Little Whinging in Surrey, and the only surviving close family of Harry Potter. Vernon Dursley married Harry's aunt Petunia Evans and they had one child, Dudley Dursley. They became the guardians of Harry when Voldemort killed James and Lily Potter. History Marjorie and Vernon Dursley were born in the 20th century. Vernon attended Smeltings Academy. He eventually proposed to her and purchased 4 Privet Drive. They had their only child, Dudley Dursley in June of 1980. Then in November 1981, Albus Dumbledore gave Harry Potter, the nephew of Petunia to the Dursley family and they became Harry's guardians. Vernon and Petunia were unhappy with the arrangement because Harry was a wizard (they would no longer be ordinary if their neighbours and friends knew) and they raised him with no knowledge of the wizarding world, and with the idea they would stamp any "nonsense" out of him. The Dursley family emotionally abused Harry for many years, and Vernon and Petunia let Dudley bully him too. They would not give him the same love and affection that they gave Dudley, never gave proper attention to Harry, and made him sleep in the cupboard under the stairs. They hated spending money on him and avoided doing so, giving him Dudley's second-hand clothes, and would punish Harry for the smallest things, even withholding food from him. Dudley also attended Smeltings Academy (the school Vernon had attended), but when Harry was eleven, he was sent a letter from a school of magic and despite Vernon's best effort to stop Harry from finding out the truth, he had to give in when Rubeus Hagrid found them. From then on, Harry would only spend unhappy summers with them until he found a way out by staying with friends or going back to school. However much of an effort Vernon and Petunia made to avoid having any connection to the wizarding world, through Harry that world kept finding them. In the summer of 1992, Dobby ruined Vernon's business meeting and Harry later escaped their house when friends from the Weasley family flew in a flying car to save him. The next year, Harry inflated Marge Dursley when she insulted the Potter family. Then the Weasley family again caused havoc in the summer of 1994 when they collected him, and the next year, members of the Order of the Phoenix collected Harry one evening following an incident in which a Dementor hurt Dudley and Harry had to use magic to save him. - }} Unbeknown to the Dursley family, Harry was not their only connection to the wizarding world before he found out the truth. Their neighbour, Arabella Figg, who they often went to lengths to hide anything odd and let babysit Harry, was actually in the Order of the Phoenix. }} In the Second Wizarding War, the Dursley family were in danger because of their connection to Harry, and they went into hiding with the help of the Order, from the summer of 1997 until the war ended in 1998. Dudley made amends with Harry that day the Dursley family went in hiding in 1997, and it was said he changed later in life. Vernon and Petunia stayed at Privet Drive, and Dudley later married and had two children. Dudley was on good enough terms with Harry to send cards to each other during the festive season, and Harry often took James, Albus and Lily Potter to spend time with them whenever they were in the neighbourhood. Known members Behind the scenes * J.K. Rowling took the name Dursley from a town of the same name in Gloucestershire. She noted going to the town when she was a child and that she hated it. She thought the word sounded "dull and unforbidding" and that was a good name for the ordinary Dursley family. She also noted that she does not think she is very popular in Dursley. * The Dursley family always knew what day it was because of their TV schedule. Notes and sources Category:Non-magic family